Our Two Days as Hope Force Reservist Chaplains

The violent tornado outbreak from April 25 - 28, 2011, affected the Southern, Midwestern, and Eastern United States, leaving catastrophic destruction in its wake, especially across the state of Alabama. Widespread and destructive tornadoes occurred on each day of the outbreak, with April 27 being the most prolific and destructive tornado day in United States history. Over 425 tornadoes were reported over four days. Hope Force Reservists, John and Marilyn Welcome arrived in Harvest, Alabama, on the morning of April 29 as part of the first wave of a deployment that would bring in nearly 50 trained volunteers from around the country.

We traveled to Alabama not really knowing what we would find because we had heard that it is something you have to see to believe. We arrived at the Harvest First Baptist Church without having seen any serious damage up to that point. We couldn't even imagine what would be waiting for us a few miles away.

We were directed to the area of devastation and when we arrived, we couldn't believe our eyes. In the first area the crew from Hope Force was putting tarps on roofs of the houses that were spared total destruction in an upscale sub division. On the adjoining streets there were dozens of home that were either completely destroyed or damaged well beyond repair.

We began to seek out home owners who might be in need of Emotional and Spiritual Care. It wasn't hard to find them. Most of them were wandering around trying to see what might have been left in the aftermath of the tornadoes. We had a successful but sad day as we tried to encourage those who were dealing with such loss. Most of them were very thankful to know that people from another state would be willing to come from quite a distance because we cared about them in this horrible situation that had turned their world upside down. Almost 100 percent of them welcomed prayer and were comforted by the knowledge of a loving God that cared about their loss.

One thing we heard over and over was, "we didn't lose anyone in our family, and material things can be replaced." That was day one, and in that particular sub division, there was no loss of life. Sadly, in another neighborhood, we found a different story. There had been several who had lost their lives. We talked to several people there who had lost neighbors and friends.

One lady told us that a woman's body had been found and no one in the neighborhood knew who she was. On day two, we found out that she had been identified, and we were so relieved to know that some of her loved ones were contacted about her death. It appeared that the local Police Department was doing their job by inquiring as to why we and other people were in the area. They were totally supportive as we told them our reason for being there. However, on day two we found it much more restricted as to who would be allowed in the area where the destruction was. We had already heard that there was some looting on that first day. Most were just volunteers from churches and groups that were there to help. However, John spoke to a man who said he had to stop a person from taking copper and other items from the rubble.

On day two, it was harder to get to the people that lived where the houses had been, because there were a lot more people there to help, especially relatives and friends, as well as neighbors helping neighbors. What a beautiful sight that was. As we moved from one neighborhood to another, we found more loss of life. They had found a man and his wife in some rubble. The man sadly had died, but his wife was in the hospital. They had been there since the tornado.

Some of the people we won't forget are:

• A four-year-old boy standing in the pile of absolute rubble where his house once stood, bringing his mom a picture he had found, and also a toy that excited him because it still worked. It was while talking to his mother and admiring her resolve and strength that we found out her neighbors next door had survived, although barely. They had somehow gotten out of their mobile home but had not escaped unscathed. The young mother was to have surgery on her arm and the baby was still in the hospital, with non-life-threatening injuries. What a miracle that was.
• A 79-year-old woman trying to clean up some debris by herself. There was nothing left of her home but she recounted how she had been raised on a farm and had worked hard all her life and she would continue to do that as long as she lived. What an example of courage in the time of despair. We had a wonderful prayer with her as she let us know her faith was strong.
• The lady we talked to that told us of her son who was injured, trying to lift a chimney off of a man next door, who was shielding his grandson with his own body. The child lived, but the grandfather died.
• The couple who were blown across the road and died together.
• The family who had purchased a shelter called a flat safe, just two weeks before the tornado struck, from a home show they attended. They would probably have died if not for that shelter. They too thanked God for their lives and were very resilient as almost all of them were. Several people came and viewed the shelter. I'm sure there will be a lot more purchased in the future.

The loss of life and destruction was tremendous through so many communities across the south, but this is just a radius of a few miles and I'm sure there were those that we weren't aware of. Thank you, Hope Force, for making it possible to have this opportunity to serve the brave people of Harvest, Alabama. It was an honor.